Big Brother 26: Expect the Unexpected

 

If you’re a Big Brother fan like myself you know how chaotic, entertaining, insane or even “Jankie” this season has been.  I don’t remember the last time I’ve been this invested in a season. I’m glued to my TV every Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday night. From the very first episode where they had a competition where two houseguests got their games upgraded and two got downgraded, the houseguests who got upgraded would win a secret power. As for the houseguests who got downgraded were not allowed to compete in the Head of Household competition or Veto competition but could still be nominated.  I was hooked and I had high expectations. Boy oh boy did this season exceed those expectations. This season is the 26th season of the reality show but is it the best ever? We have a lot to discuss.

From the first episode (not including the two-night move-in premiere) where you got one of the funniest/most awkward moments I’ve seen when Tucker was introducing himself to everyone and Lisa got up and interrupted and said: “ We got a competition here because I’m a chef too”. Later on, we got our first interaction between Matt and Angela where Angela made what seemed like a snarky comment about how the girls were going to be all over Matt which Matt took as a threat and got his guards up about Angela. To cap off the first episode Angela won Head of Household. 

Usually, the first Head of Household plays it safe doesn’t want to rock the boat too much and is typically pretty chill. But this season isn’t like any other season, Angela has a massive fight with Matt in front of the entire house where she refers to Matt as “crazy eyes” and calls him a brat. She also accused Matt of threatening her and said “You can’t be pretty on the outside when you’re ugly on the in”. Making this one of the craziest fights in Big Brother history in just WEEK ONE! 

 

One thing, in my opinion, that is a must when you want to throw a season in the best-of-all-time department is that it has to have a great pre-jury phase. Some of the consensus greatest Big Brother seasons ( Big Brother 7,10,16,20) all had amazing pre-jury phases. Which helped to make those seasons entertaining all the way through. This season’s pre-jury phase might have topped those and I don’t think it’s close.

The big twist of the season was that the Head of Household nominates three houseguests for eviction opposed to only nominating two. The crazier part was right before the eviction the three nominees would compete live in the A.I. Arena and the winner would come off the block. One interesting part is that the houseguests weren’t allowed to watch so they would find out the result after the competition when Julie Chen would announce it to everyone. So the house only had a few minutes to strategize and decide who to vote out. 

The thing that made the pre-jury so boring was that everyone would always vote with the house, no one thought for themselves, and the house would have a unanimous target and no one would try to take out a big target. With the A.I. Arena in play this season you would think that would scare the Head of Household even more to put up a big competitive threat. Well, you thought wrong. In the first week, Angela nominated Kimo, Kenny and Lisa for eviction. Lisa won the veto and she put up Matt on the block. This didn’t come as much of a surprise after her blowup with him, but Matt was one of the strongest competitors in the house and he still had a chance to earn safety. But he fell short as Kimo had a clutch performance in the A.I. Arena and Matt was evicted on a vote of 8-3 making him one of the most memorable first evictees of all time. 

Another thing that pretty much always happens in a season of Big Brother, is that a majority alliance always forms of about 4-6 people and they steamroll to the end and control every move that happens in the game. We thought that was going to happen again this year. Chelsie, Cam, Cedric, Quinn, and Brooklyn formed an alliance called the “Pentagon”. Chelsie and Cedric won Head of Household in back-to-back weeks and had full control. In week four Angela won Head of Household but Quinn won an upgrade in the first week of the season and with his power, he was able to hijack Angela’s Head of Household. You’re probably thinking well that’s boring, the Pentagon is in control again. You would be incorrect Quinn nominates, Makensey, Tucker and Cedric. Who for some reason volunteered to go on the block. Which in Big Brother is a big no-no. It would be like if you left your wallet unattended in the mall. You’re just asking for something to go wrong. 

 

 

You see Quinn also spilled the beans about the Pentagon to Kimo and Tkor two people who were unaware of this alliance Quinn was in. Tucker won the Veto, and Makensey won the A.I. Arena in one of the closest finishes in a Big Brother competition ever and Cedric along with the rest of the Pentagon was blindsided in a vote of 6-3. 

 

There’s nothing better than seeing a blindside happen in live action. I do feel bad for Cedric however he was one of the most loved houseguests inside and out of the house. But Cmon man you can’t volunteer to go on the block. In my opinion, one of the best parts of this season is the fact that there have been zero unanimous votes. In previous seasons on Thursday night all the houseguests would go in the diary room complement Julie’s (Chen) outfit and all vote for the same person to be evicted. That hasn’t happened a single time this season and it leaves me on the edge of my seat seeing who’s going to be evicted. Another unbelievable stat is that the Power of Veto has been used for a record-setting ten times! The Head of Households nominees have not stayed the same all season which has forced the Head of Household to make a replacement nominee at the Veto ceremony. 

Finally, a great season of Big Brother is nothing without the houseguests. Every year the houseguests bring their own spice to the table and this year have they ever.

Let’s start with Quinn, the superfan of the season. Quinn won one of two upgrades in the first week and won two Head of Households. Quinn was making alliances left and right with every person in the house. It eventually caught up with him and he was voted out and was the first member of the jury. The thing that made Quinn a prominent member of this season was his diary room sessions. Every time she spoke in the diary room I had to turn my TV volume down by at least 10. This dude was screaming at the top of his lungs every time but boy was he entertaining.

Tucker the competition beast of the season, won six competitions including two A.I. arenas. This dude was creating chaos everywhere and as a view to say it was entertaining to watch would be an understatement. The craziest thing Tucker did was in week three volunteer to be on the block during Cedric’s Head of Household win the Veto and not use it on himself. This was the sixth time ever this has happened he used it on Anglea instead which caused Cedric to nominate Makensey instead and she won the upgrade in week one. She won a power called “Americas Veto” and was able to take herself off the block and America voted on Quinn as the replacement nominee. This led to one of the craziest Veto meetings ever. 

Finally, Anglea where do I begin from her blowup with Matt to mocking Lisa in week two. Her endless paranoia Anglea has been the talking point of this season. People have talked about Angela being voted out since week two and she was been on the block seven times but has somehow had the Veto used on her three times! That is a Big Brother record. Anglea is so entertaining it seems too good to be true. Or is it? Anglea’s antics have been so wild this season it’s led some people to believe she is a production plant. 

With all the craziness that has transpired this season its hard to believe we still haven’t had the double eviction yet. That’s happening this Thursday, I can only guess what’s going to happen but like Big Brothers motto I’m just going to have to expect the unexpected.

 

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